<p>Hi. Im using my mothers account, to ask you all a question. Im a freshman in high school right now. Ive had really bad grades (all around the C ranges this year). This was my first year at a new school, I just had trouble this whole year. Ive always been an A+ student, and now that I think about it, I realise I could've easily done well this year, if so many new changes hadn't happened. I know Im young and I shouldnt think about college so soon, its just that, my sister goes to Cornell, and when I saw it, a few weeks ago, I wish I would go there when Im a senior. And I know thats a tough school.</p>
<p>But, since I blew it with my grades this year, do you think if I get straight A's, it would still be possible to go to this school?</p>
<p>Take a hard curriculum and get top grades and there's no reason you can't compete for a spot. Most don't care about freshman grades, and even if they do, and upward trend reflects nicely.</p>
<p>can we not give this kid false hope? lets be realistic here. we dont have to be mean but we definitely dont need to give him false hope like obama</p>
<p>No, the freshmen grades matter! Although I understand these posters are writing to cheer up the OP, they shouldn't mislead him/her to believe that freshmen grades won't be taken seriously.</p>
<p>OP: Since you are only incoming sophomore, I advise you to relax and just do the best you can in school. Take rigorous courses, strive for best grades, develop strong extra curricular activities, and do well on SATs. For Cornell, your intangibles, such as leadership, unique ability/talent, strong essays, research experience, etc, play fairly large roles in determining your admission. But, since college admissions is unpredictable and very competitive nowadays, you should just do the best you can and come your senior year, apply to many schools and see what happens. GL.</p>
<p>"First off, some schools don't even look at freshmen grades. at all."</p>
<p>To my knowledge, only U of Michigan, UC schools, and Stanford disregard Freshmen year grades. But, not Cornell.</p>
<p>"Second, for the ones that do, it is of marginal importance."</p>
<p>Well, it is still part of the transcript. It won't count as much as sophomore, junior, or senior yr grades, but it still has much more weight than you describe. They like the overall improvement in grades, but they like stright A students from 9th to 12th grade better.</p>
<p>lol I hate my high school they always told me that only junior and senior years matter. Guess US is different. good thing I did relatively well in grade 9.</p>
<p>Your situation is really similiar to mine. I had really good grades up until the end of middle school. Then I went to a very rigorous high school and my grades plummeted in my freshman year (Bs and Cs). I was depressed during the summer after freshman year and decided to work my butt off the next year to bring my grades up. I was eventually able to bring up my grades to A+s. So I think you can definitely do it, and I think colleges always prefer upward trends in your grades.</p>
<p>Um, yes...it's possible? You'll probably be disadvantaged though, like if you and another guy of similar caliber were competing, and the other guy had all A's freshman year, you had C's, so you'll probably not be picked. But overall...</p>
<p>And you might be more comforted in knowing that Stanford doesn't take into consideration freshman grades, if you are considering Stanford (same caliber as ivys).</p>
<p>Haha, yeah. Stanford is an amazing school, but my parents probably wouldnt let me go there, since Im from the east coast. My sister got into Berkeley, but my parents wouldnt let her go anyway. (:</p>
<p>Ah, well, I guess that's how it is for some people - they went their kids to stay near them.</p>
<p>How about Princeton? I hear they don't consider freshman grades either, and if so (which I doubt), barely any. Is that on your list?</p>
<p>Of course doesn't mean all else is not possible, and not everyone who gets into ivys are all A+ students from 9th grade (1 senior who went to Princeton this year from my school had like 2 C's, 2 B's freshman year).</p>